“How early is too early to get youth interested in a career in electrical contracting? According to management at Thompson Electric Co. (Sioux City, Iowa), fifth grade may not be too early.”
Check out the full article here.
” ‘I thought, if they can take fifth graders to learn about college, why can’t we bring Thompson Electric to a fifth grade classroom so they can learn about the electrical industry?’ Grange said.”
Check out this recent article : Tired of Your Cubicle? Try a Trade
” ‘These manufacturing apprenticeships are no longer blue-collar work,’ Mr. Kamm said, ‘but require highly technically advanced skills that include a great command of mathematics, physics, hydraulics, robotics and information technology.’ ”
It is important that when you are spending a significant amount of money on furthering your education you leave with a tangible skill to apply.
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal:
“The friction around the best path forward after high school is popping up around the country as anxious students and families try to figure out how to pay for four years of college. At the same time, business groups and state governments make the case for a free or much cheaper vocational education.
The conversation is being fueled by questions about the declining value of a college degree as well as the rising cost of tuition and student debt. Low unemployment and a strong job market are exacerbating an already growing skills gap, raising prospects for tradespeople like welders who are in high demand.”
“ ‘Raelee was smart from the time she was a baby, from the time she was two nobody could dress her, she was always a leader and she had her own mind,” said Raelee’s mother, Beth Nicholson, a nurse. “I always expected her to go to a four-year college. That was my expectation.”
But when she was 14, Raelee rebuilt a car with her older cousin.
“We worked on it the entire summer and when we got it running it was the best feeling in the world,” she said. “I really like working with my hands.’ ”
In 2017 Tom Rothfuss, tri state manager to Gilman Electrical Supply, awarded scholarships of $500 each to four Sanford Regional Technical Center (SRTC) students. Following the ceremony, Kathy Sargent, director of the SRTC, shared her opinion on the newly generated scholarship, describing it’s potential as becoming a “game changer” to students in need.
Technical Schools Offer Strong Alternative – click on the link for the full article written by Darrin Brust.
Darrin Brust is campus president of Universal Technical Institute (UTI) in Houston, a provider of postsecondary education for students seeking careers as professional automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle and marine technicians.
“Commonly, young adults are steered away from vocational careers based on faulty perceptions about what it means to work in a skilled trade. A recent analysis of the federal College Scorecard data and U.S. labor market trends finds that students who get an industry-aligned, quality postsecondary technical education are earning more, on average, after 10 years than their peers from some of the nation’s liberal arts colleges and two-year community colleges.
These jobs are abundant, pay well and offer plenty of opportunities for advancement. In the transportation sector, for example, the nation will need 120,000 new technicians on average each year in the coming decade to work as automotive and diesel technicians and in collision repair. By 2026, that equates to approximately 1.2 million new technicians nationwide. While many recent college grads — more than 44 percent according to some studies — are underemployed or working on short-term “gigs,” these are careers that pay well and offer plenty of opportunities for advancement.
To fill these jobs, students need hands-on, high-tech and industry-specific education that matches their talents and gives them the specific skills they need to go to work — the kind of training that often is not available in traditional academic settings.
But too often, students aren’t aware of the availability of quality technical training programs — an outcome perpetuated by the “one size fits all” mindset that everyone must go to college and stigmas about careers in the trades. When we accept as truth that a college degree is the only way to get ahead and overlook the gifts, talents and significant contributions of students who can succeed in other industries, we do them an enormous disservice.
A growing number of high school districts have barred all technical schools from their campuses, without regard to the quality of their programs or the outcomes they produce for students. When that happens, teachers and counselors are left with fewer options for students who want to build successful, life-long careers in the skilled trades.”
Ignore the stigma of ‘blue collar’ work. Skilled trades still provide path to success.
Check out this article that Bangor Daily News recently published. There are many opportunities in Maine to make a career in a highly skilled field.
Excerpt from article written by Kevin J. Willis : I am the fleet manager for PepsiCo Inc., responsible for its facility in Bangor along with those in Auburn and Presque Isle. What our company needs is more trained, skilled automotive and diesel technicians. We’re talking high-tech careers with middle-class earnings, good benefits and opportunities for advancement.
Unfortunately, outdated stereotypes and stigmas persist against these jobs and others in the skilled trades. Too often, school counselors subtly discourage students from considering these careers. Too many parents believe that when it comes to success it’s “college or bust.”